“The process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union…..”
Alexander Hamilton…. Federalist Papers – No. 68
In the modern communication age, which began in earnest with a radio in near every US domicile, the most basic responsibility of Presidents we elect has been to inform us from the vast platform their office provides when significant tides of our nation’s fortune shift. Starting with FDR’s “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” pronouncement, American voters have taken for granted when a President takes to the national airwaves we should stop what we’re doing and pay attention, and what he’s telling us is truth that the seriousness of current events has elevated above partisan packaging.
When JFK reported on the presence of missiles in Cuba, only certifiables were questioning his veracity or motivation. In fact, until now, it was a very safe bet that, if you asked the question “if the vast majority of the country can no longer believe what a POTUS has to tell them during a national crisis, should he be replaced…,” an overwhelming percentage wouldn’t hesitate to answer yes. Indeed, even a cursory glance at the fall of the only President who actually did resign his office, promotes the conclusion it was precisely the realization he could no longer credibly lead America in crisis that most influenced Richard Nixon’s calculus and prompted him to finally abandon ship.
That was then, this is now. Our current equation flips it all upside down… only the wretched core now receives our President’s daily gibberish as anything but designed to further rabidly immediate processing of what his political and personal fortunes require. A referendum on who the nation believes is coming soon; Trump will see to that. Even as Covid-19 deaths reach new highs near daily, and states like Florida and Texas are bracing for the worst, the Trump Administration, with little to nothing in the way of details, is making clear May 1 is long enough for flattening the curve…. data be damned.
The Civil War produced roughly 660,000 American deaths. It’s doubtful most understand that near 2/3 of those fatalities were caused by infectious diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, pneumonia and malaria. In 2016 our divided republic elected a President with no greater desire than to increase the estrangement. He has succeeded and we are now in a state of cold civil war, unable to abide each other’s most basic sensibilities. At the heart of it is who to believe, or more to the point, who not to believe. Covid-19 now provides the means for us to face off diametrically opposed as to how we proceed, with one side putting its faith in a narrative always at odds with fact, the other preferring the cumulative expertise MAGA has never had any use for.
Nobody has chronicled the slide from decency of the Republican Party more diligently than Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. Since the Tea Party began its metamorphosis into the totalitarian mob it has become, Milbank has documented and accurately assessed each malevolent stage. Nothing has garnered more of his attention than the party’s efforts to addle the Federal Government, constantly repeating Fox/AM bromides about its repressive uselessness. Yesterday, he finished a ruinous maxim long-time strangle-the-government fool Grover Norquist started. Norquist once quipped he’d prefer to see federal programs shrunk to the point he could “drag what’s left to drown in a bathtub.” Marking what any sober analyst understands was the fully preventable milestone of our 20,000th Covid-19 death, Milbank sadly observed the obvious… “When you drown government in a bathtub, people die.”
Social distancing is working where rigorously applied and followed – read states with governors not affixed to MAGA idiocy. Washington and California are flattening the curve despite being initial incubators of the virus. New York is holding its own and may have seen the worst of this wave. Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan set the right example from the outset, aggressively closing down his state to all but essential services. DC Mayor Mariel Bowser and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam followed suit and the DC-metro region may well dodge a bullet.
Kentucky voters had the good sense to send repulsive Trumpie Matt Blevin packing last November, many lives will surely be saved as a result. Democrat Andy Beshear declared an emergency March 6, then didn’t hesitate to close schools, restaurants and bars, making clear the crisis required the state to shut things down. Next door in Tennessee, MAGA-dependent Bill Lee was enjoying dinner out until just before April, when he finally suggested perhaps Covid-19 may be a bit more serious than the flu. Tennessee now has near three times the confirmed cases Kentucky reports. DeSantis in Florida, Kemp in Georgia, Abbot in Texas, Reeves in Mississippi, Ivey in Alabama, etc. etc. The list is as long as it is despicable. Trump flunkies are fatal to public health, no less than the President they owe their viability to. The numbers won’t lie, even if Fox/AM and their creation certainly do.
Nobody believes America can stay inside until a vaccine comes to the rescue. Perhaps the most important policy in US history will be what balances our vigilance to keep Covid-19 at bay with restarting the economy. Who can we count on to develop the protocols necessary to recirculate those who have survived the virus with those yet to be infected, and those more likely to suffer its worst? Tragically, this Administration offers zero basis for confidence it will do anything but demand we again ignore Covid-19’s dangers and get back to work. Testing protocols? Certification of those who have been infected? Aggressive procurement and deployment of antibody testing? Protecting target groups most vulnerable to the virus’ worst? Clearly, Trump and his lackeys have given no thought or preparation to what restarting will look like. Worse, they are fully prepared to move forward unprepared. Only the wretched core views that as acceptable.
This crisis clarifies how long it takes to ruin the Federal Government as a vehicle to competently intervene during national crisis – just a bit more than three years, given a President embodying “the talents for low intrigue” Hamilton warned of. Nobody excels at that pursuit like Trump. Moving forward, the new federalism foisted on us is simply this: responsible Governors of good faith and honor are going to be forced to ignore Trump’s edict, coming way too soon with no basis other than his rabid discretion. If it’s May 1st, that will be just about the time both Florida and Texas hospitals will be overwhelmed with death. If he surprises us with patience to wait another two weeks, that will be in time to match surging fatality rates in flyover states, as their decision makers’ ugly bows to MAGA political expedience exact too many pounds of suffering.
In other words, we are on our own, and the vacuum seditious Presidential indifference and laziness creates is not only dangerous to our health, but very bad for business as well. Expect whoever leads your state to either ruin you by mindlessly following MAGA nihilism, or try desperately to save you by cobbling together state and local coalitions, collaborating with an aim to find some workable balance without resources or guidance, simply doing the best they can. Either way, we aren’t the United States right now, nor will be until we again “elevate a man” with “the merit…. to establish him with the esteem and confidence of the whole union.” We failed miserably in 2016, another debacle like that is not an option. BC